Donation from proceeds of Washingtons' first Pot auction denied by local schools
- seniorsmmjnetwork
- Dec 4, 2014
- 2 min read
Washington held it's first legal pot auction in November, raising $600,000 for the 400lbs of Marijuana sold to licensed, legal bidders. What happened next was a bit of a surprise and still has some people scratching their heads.
The owners of Fireweed Farms in Prosser, WA, wanted to donate some of the proceeds, sounds simple right? Child and teen resources, they could always use more in the way of financial support, right? In a simple world, 1 + 1 would = 2. Not in Prosser, WA.
An offer was made by Fireweed Farms to donate $14,000 to the local schools and Boys & Girls clubs. The offer was considered but ultimately rejected. The offer was made with no strings attached but the stigma surrounding legalized Pot is still clinging on for some.
"After careful review, we decided to decline the donation in order to not distract the community from our mission and the opportunities we promote to our youth," said local Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Brian Ace. Prosser Superintendent Dr. Ray Tolcacher would only say "this wouldn't be in the best interest of students".
The residents of Prosser struck a different tone. Local people saw the need for the funds and pondered why these organizations would take money from the lottery, wineries, breweries and more but not for a State run, legal auction of Marijuana.
Sometimes, old thinking needs to be revisited. "We are currently evaluating, as an organization, our gift acceptance policy. And we hope to be able to move forward with more clarity in the future," Ace said.
What do you think?
Here are a few links to other sources covering this story -
Kerp TV
Tri-City Herald -
Modern Farmer -
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